This week Anthony Johnston’s long running Oni Press series Wasteland returns to shelves after a lengthy hiatus; with issue thirty-three serving as a fantastic jumping on point for new readers interested in joining the pilgrimage to A-REE-YASS-I.

Creator-Owned books can often be fairly inaccessible to new readers, with creative team’s having to concern themselves with driving their narrative forward instead of appeasing those late to the party. Thankfully, Johnston makes everyone feel welcome with an issue full of the tight dialogue and character work he has become known for; with the narrative rocketing between deliberately venomous character moments and a tense visit to a town built on religious superstition.

You quickly get the sense that a lot has come before this issue, but Johnston never lets it become overbearing. If anything, it helps to quickly establish a living, breathing ecosystem that new and lapsed readers should easily jump into.

Justin Greenwood deserves more than a fair share of the praise. His greyscale tones bring plenty of atmosphere to the minimalist wastelands. His faces in particular are well travelled and weary, Greenwood’s the perfect accomplice on a book that relies so heavily on precision placed dialogue.

I have never read an issue of Wasteland before, but this won’t be my last. The twists and story beats still resonated, and Johnston’s laid down the foundation for a gripping story arc, that I can't wait to dive back into next month.